[Help with listening!] You English people speak with speed of light! Slow down please!
Why can't I hear the word 'Haven't' is this audio file? (at 1:08)
This file is for my English learning book. (The file is quite small, you can download it)
http://www.wikiupload.com/PMD47TB502GUSLV
I hear something similar to 'I've got a pen' not 'I haven't got a pen'
Actually, We, Persian people, speak really slower than English people.
Our ears haven't been matched with this such quick and fast speaking.
How can I solve this problem?I know that file is quite slow, but I mean, in general speaking.
Search from various English teachers...
Answers · 11
1
Hi Hamed,
"Haven't" is definitely there - the V and N sounds in the word are quite clear. If the speaker said "I have got a pen", then "have" would be very, very clear, or contracted into "I've". Listen again and see if you can detect the N sound.
Aside from that, some general advice would be to find audio with written dialogue. Listen first (without reading), then read and listen together, then listen again without reading. Don't overthink it - this is exactly where students go wrong.
0
With English, people also jumble words together which will make it sound faster still, because the gaps between words are not distinct. Spanish, the language I am learning has the same problem, and it took me a while to really come to terms and train my ear to work out the individual sounds. That's why if you can find transcripts it is better as you can start to see where the individual words are when native speakers speak quickly.
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Hi, a few websites I've looked at offer some good advice for improving your listening skils. One of these is to listen to radio or television shows online in the language you are learning, and pause them when you don't understand an word to look it up or play it again. Might help.....
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Just another thing Hamed, you say 'you English people speak at the speed of light'. 'At' is the right preposition, not with.
0
Every learner of a new language has this problem! It all sounds too fast to begin with, you have to get used to the sounds, and the only way to do this is to listen a lot to native speakers, preferably with transcripts or subtitles so you can associate the words with the sounds. With listening comprehension there aren't any shortcuts, it takes time but if you put in the effort it will become a lot easier as you go on.
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